Bullet Points: Post-Bouchercon Edition

Let me begin by thanking all of the writers who contributed to The Rap Sheet’s blowout coverage of Bouchercon over the last few days: Jim Winter (for his wonderful video interviews), Ali Karim (for making sure we had the early word on all the award winners), Mark Coggins (for both his terrific still photography and his coverage of Friday’s Behind the Black Mask party), and Jeri Westerson (for sharing her impressions of the 2009 Shamus Awards presentations). We learned a few things from this year’s coverage that we hope to apply when reporting on next October’s Bouchercon in beautiful downtown San Francisco.

But with all that excitement pretty much spent, it’s time to catch up on what the rest of the crime-fiction world has to offer.

• Hard Case Crime editor Charles Ardai sent out an e-note yesterday informing readers about a new reissue he has coming out in August 2010. It read, in part:

In the 1940s and ’50s, one of the most popular private eyes toiling in the pages of hard-boiled crime novels was Michael Shayne. The creation of Brett Halliday (real name: Davis Dresser), Shayne appeared in more than 50 novels, a dozen movies, a radio drama, a TV series, comic books, and more. He even had a magazine named after him -- Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine -- which was published for 30 years. When Shane Black, the creator of the “Lethal Weapon” movies, wrote the script for the first movie he directed himself, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer ... it’s a very good movie, one you should see if you haven’t already), it was two of Halliday’s Mike Shayne novels that inspired him.

Strangely, though, the Shayne novels have all been out of print for many years. And next year we’re going to correct that when we bring out a new edition of Murder Is My Business -- featuring a brand new cover painting by Brett Halliday’s long-time illustrator, the legendary Robert McGinnis.

Since its original publication in 1945, editions of Murder Is My Business have carried a number of different covers. But Hard Case’s is only the second to boast McGinnis artwork. McGinnis first took a shot at interpreting Halliday/Dresser’s story in paint for the 1963 Dell paperback edition, shown on the left here, beside Hard Case’s forthcoming version.

• Also Ardai related: The third Gabriel Hunt adventure novel to be produced under his editorship, Hunt at World’s End, is due out in just over a week. It’s, er, “co-authored” by Stoker Award finalist Nicholas Kaufmann. Look for three more Hunt books in 2010.

• This week’s short fiction offering at Beat to a Pulp comes from Boston-area writer David Fleming, who says his literary influences “range from Mickey Spillane to Marjorie Weinman Sharmat.” His story is called “Another Carrot.”

• The filming of Ann Cleeves’ 2007 novel, Hidden Depths, featuring Northumberland-based detective Vera Stanhope, is now underway in England. There’s no word yet on when the finished, 90-minute film might be released by ITV.

• With Bouchercon Indianapolis now over, it’s time to look forward to Left Coast Crime 2010, which will be held next March in Los Angeles. Even further ahead: Left Coast Crime 2011, which will feature Martin Cruz Smith among its guests of honor, is scheduled to take place in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

• OK, a couple more Bouchercon Indy recaps: Author-blogger Donna Moore recounts the good, the bad, and the ugly from last week’s convention; and Peter Rozovsky continues his series of short posts about the event.

• Dennis Lehane talks with The Boston Phoenix about Boston Noir, the new short-fiction anthology he edited (and to which he contributed a tale of his own). When asked to distinguish “Boston noir” from other regional varieties, Lehane responds: “Well, look, you can compare Florida noir to Boston noir--Florida noir, it has a much more sort of absurdist, gothic bent. ... I would think of Carl Hiaasen. Whereas if you look at Boston, it’s a different kind of comedy. It’s a darker kind of--blacker--more Boston type of comedy. The idea that, I’ll say about Bostonians, that God’s a bit of a jokester and we’re the punchline.”

• Scott D. Parker explains why he writes in books.

• Who better to sing the Bonanza theme than star Lorne Greene?

• Stella Rimington, the first woman to be named Director-General of MI5 and now the author of a series of espionage novels, chooses her six favorite books, only one of which is by John le Carré. In an earlier piece for The Wall Street Journal, she named what she believes are the five best books about spies in Britain.

• Michael Connelly, whose 15th Harry Bosch book, 9 Dragons, has just been published by Little, Brown, talks with the L.A. Weekly about his “journey from kid reporter to the pinnacle of his genre.”

• Rob Mallows goes mining for wisdom in author Len Deighton’s introductions to the Silver Jubilee editions of his spy novels. UPDATE: The series continues here.

• Expect to see more of Jorja Fox on CSI.

• Republican’t leader Rush Limburger has completely flipped out.

• More terrific radio adventures for detective Sam Spade, courtesy of Evan Lewis’ blog, Davy Crockett’s Almanack. This week’s show: “The Bow Window Caper.”

• For BSC Review, Keith Rawson talks with Reed Farrel Coleman and Ken Bruen about their jointly concocted new novel, Tower.

• Meanwhile, Ray Taras interviews concert violinist and debut novelist Gerald Elias about his debut book, Devil’s Trill. And Mystery Fanfare’s Janet Rudolph turns the table on David Cole, who has spent the last few months chatting up Canadian crime writers for her blog. Their exchange can be found here.

• Finally, here are addictive escapes: The Web site Retrovision Internet TV provides links to old shows that can be watched for free on your computer. A little surfing turned up many episodes from crime dramas such as Have Gun--Will Travel, The Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-O, The Adventures of Ellery Queen, It Takes a Thief, The Fall Guy, Remington Steele, Ironside, Spenser: For Hire, and Kojak. So much for doing anything productive this weekend ... (Sorry, but at least the majority of these Webcasts are available only to U.S. residents.)